Ch. 10 Memories

When we were only 6 years old, me and my brother loved to play in the castle's courtyard. Our land was very beautiful. Trees were green, water so pure, and flowers of all kinds bloomed in the kingdom's garden. Our mother was the proud and beautiful queen. She loved to take a walk with us through the town. She would attend the gardens and was very kind. With her would always be our bold father, the king. He always looked at us with a big smile on his face. He was a father that we could share our pain with.. He loved our mother as much as our mother loved him.

Now me and my brother. We were alike in so many ways, yet different in so many ways. Our father came up to us and said

"Come, my children. We must talk." Me and my brother ran up to him and he took us on his shoulders with a deep booming laugh. Mother stood beside him.

"My sons. My time and your mother's will one day end. So we came to a decision to an heir. You two are our only candidates." our father said.

"But we have plenty of time, father." Steel said. I was giddy myself. Our father smiled, then sighed.

"The only problem is, one of you is only allowed to rule." he said.

"Who did you choose?" I asked.

"I have not immediatly decided on which one of you will rule. So to be fair, we shall hold a tournament to see who will be fit to rule. Many people will join, so you will under go a serious training programm." Our father said.

That evening, me and Steel walked down to the town to pick up some groceries. We were pretty famous in town, not just because we were the king and queen's sons. We were very mischievous in the town.

"So who do you think will win?" I asked Steel punching him lightly in the shoulder.

"He won't say untill we complete this tournament thing. But know this... if one of us does get win, no matter what, we are still brothers." Steel said smiling.

"Hey, race you to the hill!" I challenged.

"Challenge accepted!" Steel said. We took off, parkouring through the town. People would just shake their heads and say, 'There they go again.' I won the race. We laughed and plopped on our backs and stared at the sky. The tallest hill that anyone could see from miles away.

"Hey, Flint?" Steel perked up.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Have you seen the new maid?" he said.

"Err... can't say I have?" I replied to him confusedly. We had alot of maids that it was hard to keep track of which one is which.

"You know... the purple cat." Steel said. "She has the duties of dusting our room and delievering us our food."

"Umm..." I tried to remember who he was talking about.

"I heard she came from a ninja clan." Steel said. I laughed as I imagined a masked ninja for a maid.

"I'm serious! I once saw her in the court yard tending the plants and she accidently knocked a pot over, but she caught it with her foot and kicked it up back to its' spot with ease!" Steel said turning on his stomache.

"Since when have you stalked our maids?" I said with a stifled chuckle. Steel blushed.

"Shut up..." he mumbled. Then it came to me.

"Oh yeah, now I remember who you are talking about. I've seen her in the halls, dusting the statuetts." I said remembering the young purple cat maid dusting the statue of our mother. "She looks about our age." Steel nodded in confermation.

"Isn't she a looker?" Steel chuckled. I just shook my head chuckling. Those were the good times. But it didn't last for long. Our father died in battle and our mother grieved for him, starved herself to death. I remembering just crying at both of their funerals and Steel there to confort me. We lost everything that we cared for. Our parents. The kingdom's weather changed from the beautiful blue sky to a dull gray cloudy with rain. I stared at the window with my arms around my legs and my knees up to my chin. All there was was me and Steel. Our trusted butler, Gin, began to host the tournament.

Me and Steel, now 8 years old, participated in the tournament. We fought some strong opponents, some fast opponents, and the weak opponents. Eventually, we reached the semi finals. It was a two versus one since there was an extra opponent. Me and Steel were teamed together. It felt great to team up with my brother. We worked as a team since we were little. We grabbed our metal claw gauntlets and faced the opponent. We should have expected this one to be shady. An full body armored man with a strange symbol on the chest plate. It had a curvy X and a slashed S. He stared at us in silence. We waited for him to move, but he stood there.

"Break left." Steel whispered to me. I nodded and I took left and he took right. We dashed to his sides. I was surprised. He didn't flinch at our formation. Steel slid to trip him and jumped to hit his head. The next thing we knew was we were flying through the air. I hit the cobbled wall and Steel crashed into a shop stand. I shook the dizziness away. I gasped. He was right up to me. His looming figure stood over me.

"You..." his booming voice came from the helm. I froze up. Something about him didn't feel right. His helm was now eye level with me. I realized I couldn't breathe. I struggled to break free, but his grip didn't budge.

"Flint!" I heard my brother call out. He held out his claw gauntlets and spun himself in the air like a drill. He broke off the srmored man's arm which released its' grip on me. I coughed. Steel helped me up. "You okay?" he asked. I nodded.

"Who is that guy?" I said rubbing my throat. We watched as the armored man's arm regenerated itself. People in the crowd murmered.

"Come on, brother, we have to work together." Steel said. I got up and nodded.

"Lion Claw?" I asked him. He nodded. The man now drew out a weapon. But it wasn't one of the armories weapons. This one he conjured up with a black light. He pointed it at us.

"Come..." he said. His weapon was a spiked blade with a spiked hand guard. Wings were in the form of the blade holder. We dashed forward. The man swung and we were knocked back by a strong gust of wind. Steel immediatly recovered and dashed behind him. He slid underneath him and brought up the claw gauntlet. The armored man stumbled but didn't really move much. Steel hopped away.

"Damn, not even a scratch!" he said grinding his teeth. Steel charged again. I saw the man's hand twitch.

"Steel, don't!" I called out. Too late. The man grabbed my brother's arm and used the butt of his sword and rammed into Steel's back. Steel bounced off the ground and landed hard on his back. He coughed as the air left him. He rolled on the ground trying to work off the pain. I shouted and sprinted toward the man. He noticed and grabbed me by the neck again.

"You..." he said. I broke free by kicking the chest plate. He loosened his grip from the hit. I landed with my hand still grabbing his arm, I slid my foot under his leg which tripped him and i flipped him over my back. He landed on his back with a metallic thump. I finished my combo with a kick to the head. His helm flew off. I gasped. He was another cat. His head poked out from the helm. He looked like a young boy in a man's body. His eyes didn't have any pupils, just white. His expression was emotionless. He pushed himself up and summoned his weapon. I jumped away to avoid the swing.

"W-who are you?" I asked him. He walked up to me. I looked over to see if Steel needed help. He sat motionless, staring at us. "Steel, help me!" I called. I looked around. Everyone seemed to be frozen. No one moved. I backed up as the armored cat walked up to me.

"You shall be my next host." he said. I swung the gauntlet. His arm armor shreded and fell off, exposing his arms. He threw off the chest plate. I was right. He was just a small boy in giant armor. But how can a boy younger then me even have the stregnth to wear that armor?

"Get away!" I shouted. I swung and he caught my arm. I tried pulling back, but it felt like I dug my hand into solid rock. He drew one of his claws. It glowed with yellow. I couldn't even describe the pain I felt next. He was carving a symbol on my chest and stomache.

"Get away from him!" a voice said. My brother seemed to have broken free from the trance he was in and latched onto the boys back. He pulled him away from me. The boy threw off Steel and held him by the neck as he carved the symbol into him. I broke him off.

"Your lives shall no longer be happy. It is time for you to face reality." the boy said. He began to whisp away in a yellow transparent smoke.

I helped my brother up. "You okay?" I asked him. He nodded. Then, everyone broke free from their trance. Having no trace of what just happened, they looked around confused. It was time for us to fight one another. We clashed like titans. But in the end, I lost. Steel became the king. 4 more years later, the kingdom was back to normal. Yet I was not who I was from before. I began to cause trouble through the kingdom. I was arrested for stealing, fighting and false identity. I never learned my lesson. I was soon arrested for getting into a claw fight with some local street kids. The guard brought me before my brother.

"What did he do this time?" Steel said with a sigh.

"He was caught in another fight with some kids." the guard said.

"I was only protecting the kingdom's good name." I said with sarcasim. My brother looked at me with disappointment.

"I expected more from you. Leave us!" he said to the gaurds. I rubbed my wrist from the shackles. "Ayann. Bring us some water for my brother." Steel ordered. Ayann was still our age. She walked over to Steel and poured his glass with water. She walked over and poured me a glass. Our eyes met. I looked away with a blush. Out in the corner of my eye, she did the same. My brother walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Flint, dear brother. What is troubling you?" Steel said softly. I growled at him.

"Non of your concern..." I said venomously.

"But it is. You are my brother. I would risk my life for you. What troubles you?" Steel said. I glanced at Ayann quickly. I was hoping my brother wouldn't see. But he did. He called Ayann over. "If you will excuse us, Flint, I must talk with Ayann." he said. He lead Ayann through a door. I was growling. My brother? Trying to take Ayann for himself? I grumbled. I decided to follow them. I stealthly walked in the shadows. Following them. Ayann was laughing at a joke Steel made. My fists clenched. i didn't like the look she was giving him. I suddenly heard crying. Peeking out, I saw my brother cry in the arms of Ayann. She held him, trying to comfort him. That did it. I was furious.

That night, I did the most heinous crime I could in the kingdom. Stealing the Relic. I was soon running through the forest.

Soldiers and guard dogs were following behind me. I ran to a clearing. A small river stood between me and the border of the kingdom. I gasped for breath. I soon heard the sounds of foot steps. Having nowhere to go, I jumped into the river and swam under a rock. I held my breath. I watched as the rippled silhouettes ran by. I waited for a minute , then swam up to the surface. Crawling out of the river, I gasped for air. My senses began to go wild. I drew my claws.

"Show yourself!" I called out. My brother stepped out from behind a tree.

"Flint..." Steel said. His expression looked distraught.

"I had to! THe kingdom deserved to get something stolen, so I thought of this." I grinned. "A rock that supposedly holds the power of Limbo and his world. Nothing speacial. It's just a rock to me." I said.

"Then why did you take it?" Steel asked.

"Because I thought stealing a rock that the kingdom kept in safety would be hilarious." I chuckled. His fists ckenched.

"What made you do this?" Steel asked again. I looked at him.

"Do you really want to know?" I told him. Steel waited for me to say. "Fine... It's because of you." I finally said. Steel looked at me.

"But why?" he asked.

"How naive of you! I know what's going on between you and Ayann!" I shouted.

"Was that it? You did all this just because of jealousy?" Steel said.

"Bingo! I wouldn't exactly call it jealousy, but I know something now. You arn't so dumb after all." I said chuckling. Steel seemed to ponder this. "It's very simple. I saw you alone with Ayann, and she was all over you. My brother... Oh mighty king! Pray tell, how shall I end your life?" I threatened. I drew all my claws and crouched low.

"Have you lost sight of what truly matters?" Steel said.

"It doesn't matter any more." I said.

"You leave me no choice now, Flint." Steel said drawing his claws.

"Finally, I was getting tired of talking to you." I said. I charged him. We fought and fought and fought. Hours passed and we were running out of stamina. I charged him. He fell back and kicked with both feet into my stomache. I fell back. Steel quickly grabbed the Relic and held it up. I laughed.

"It's just a rock." I said. Steel's expression became sadder.

"Godd bye, Flint..." He held up two fingers and the Relic began to glow. All I saw was a bright light and the feeling of falling.

Sorry, for the late upload. I was with the family. Anyway, Thanksgiving break is over and it's back to school. I promise readers that I will upload more. But I think after I get a few more reviews. Don't think I am bailing. I just want to hear few more people's opinion cause I really do need feedback. Thanks and good night. (Or good morning.) :)